Preparing the Cold Frames for Winter

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a story about our attempts to keep our free-ranging chickens out of our raised beds where we have lettuce planted.  

Marauding Chickens

We had laid fencing panels over the beds thinking that would keep them out, but they just hopped on top, reached their cunning little heads down through the openings and nibbled away on the lettuce.  So, I covered them with bird netting that put a stop to their thievery.   We now have some nice lettuce that has not been chicken-nibbled.

Our cold frames were originally covered with storm doors we bought at a Habitat ReStore.   The doors were attached to the frames with hinges and could be raised or lowered, depending on the weather.  This fall, Tom had to rebuild some of the frames and removed the storm doors altogether.   He planned to put them back on before winter.

However, when I was covering the fence panels with bird netting to keep the chickens out, it occurred to me if we just covered the cattle panels with heavy plastic, then we could use them to replace the heavy storm doors.  So, we decided to try it.

First, they had to be secured to the frames.  We attached the panels to the cold frames with U-shaped brackets, like this.  This made a handy hinge so they could be raised and lowered just like the doors.

Then, we simply clipped the plastic to the panels with cheap clips that can be bought at any office supply store.

Here's how they turned out. The fence panels are much lighter and easier to handle than the storm doors and also safer.  Although we never had the glass break in one of the doors, there is always the possibility that could happen.  So, not having the glass doors is just one less thing to worry about.